Greece in focus. Euro holds above 1.135
Key Notes:
- New Zealand Westpac Consumer Sentiment 112 vs. 117.4 previously
- New Zealand Visitor Arrivals m/m 0.1% vs. 1.5% previously
- New Zealand Credit card spending 7.1% vs. 7.2% previously
- BoJ releases monthly report
- BoC MPC Member Cunliffe speech
- Eurogroup Meetings gets underway
Later:
- Eurozone consumer confidence
- US Existing home sales
The currency markets opened on a quiet note on Monday with Greece topping the headlines. Late Friday, after the ECB raised Greece’s ELA funds, it was decided that the Eurogroup meeting would be held on Monday, thus removing the risk of any major decisions over the weekend. However the Euro gapped up before declining from the opening highs near 1.13885 but remained supported above 1.135 level. There were no major news releases from Europe with developments of the Greece negotiations topping the headlines. The Euro was trading mixed across the board, and was relatively weaker against a stronger Canadian dollar during the day, while the single currency managed to hold its ground against the Greenback and the Aussie dollar.
As for the developments earlier in the day, Greek officials are believed to have offered a new set of proposals with the Greek premier expected to have offered some concessions for its creditors. However, the Eurogroup meeting is more likely to offer a temporary arrangement rather than a full bailout with most news media sites reporting that the Eurogroup could reach a decision to extend some monetary assistance for Greece to sail through the June 30th IMF deadline.
Earlier in the day, the Asian session was modest with no major shifts from last week’s theme. AUDUSD was trading within Friday’s range and is likely to close the day trading flat. The NZDUSD saw a fresh bout of selling earlier this morning Westpac consumer sentiment and visitor arrivals as well as Credit card spending all declined from the previous month, keeping the selling pressure on the Kiwi. At the time of writing, NZDUSD touched an intraday low near 0.687 before managing to lift higher.
The Japanese Yen weakened initially during the Asian trading session as the USDJPY touched an intraday high to 123.3 but the currency started its decline on a strong bearish candlestick.
The British Pound was also trading subdued for the day after the currency briefly traded near 1.59 highs before declining lower.
The US trading session is relatively quiet with no major news events scheduled for the day with the exception of the US existing home sales data that is expected to be released later in the evening.
